THE CHOICE

           The Choice was written by “(1)Russell Roberts is Professor of Economics at George Mason University and the J. Fish and Lillian F. Smith Distinguished Scholar at the Mercatus Center, and a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.His latest book is The Price of Everything: A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity (Princeton University Press, 2008). Told in the form of a novel, it's the story of how prosperity is created and sustained, and the unseen order and harmony that shape our daily lives.He is also the author of The Invisible Heart: An Economic Romance (MIT Press, 2001) a novel which discusses an array of public policy issues including corporate responsibility, consumer safety, and welfare. His first novel, The Choice: A Fable of Free Trade and Protectionism (Prentice Hall, 3rd ed., 2006) was named one of the top ten books of the year by Business Week and one of the best books of the year by the Financial Times when it was first published in 1994.Roberts is the host of the weekly podcast series, EconTalk and co-blogs with at Cafe Hayek, with his colleague Don Boudreaux. He is a frequent commentator on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered." In addition to numerous academic publications, he has written for The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. He is a founding advisory board member of the Library of Economics and Liberty website.Before coming to George Mason University, Roberts was at Washington University in St. Louis where he was the founding director of the Center for Experiential Learning at the John M. Olin School of Business and a Senior Fellow at the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy. Roberts has also taught at the University of Rochester, Stanford University, and UCLA.”

Summary of the Book:

           Ed Johnson and David Ricardo are the protagonists in The Choice. Ed Johnson was born in 1917 in Star, USA. In 1939 he got a degree in engineering from the University of Illinois. After the World War II he turned back to Star Illinois and started to work in the Stellar Television Company and in 1955 he became the President of the same company.  

           David Ricardo (1772-1823) was born in London one of most important economists who played important role in the development of economic theory. His family was descended from Iberian Jews who fled to Holland. Afterwards, before he was born, his father immigrated to England. David Ricardo made his own business and became rich and then he became a member of British Parliament after his retirement. He formulated “classical system” and influenced heavily the economic thinking of the 19th century. One of his famous theory ‘‘Comparative Advantage’’  which  offers countries to specialize in producing the good that has less comparative cost is the main basis for free trade today. He was inspired from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations who is accepted as the father of modern economy and creator the theory of Absolute Advantage in economy. But it is not possible to explain the international specialization only with this theory. So David Ricardo answered to this deficiency with his comparative advantage theory. He was a partisan of the Bullionist position, which argued for resumption of the convertibility of paper money into gold. He mentioned that if the government tries to block out the budget deficit by coining money it will cause the increase in prices. He expressed that free commerce makes the nations more efficient. He was against the protectionist Corn Laws, who restricted the imports of wheat in Great Britain after Napoleonic Wars and caused the scarcity. David Ricardo shows that even though one country  has absolute disadvantages on two different products and the other country has absolute advantages both these products;  the trade can still be done and both these countries can get benefits from that trade.  

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           The choice ,is the novel on international trade and trade policy, was published in 1994 and it was selected as one of the best books of 1994 by the Financial Times and one of the top ten books of the same year by Business Week. In the book, David Ricardo tries to persuade Ed Johnson to understand the free trade is better for states and nations. He explains many and many times better side of free trade , he gives lots of various examples for makes it more comprehensible. ...

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